If you’ve paid any attention to global headlines, you might have noticed something deeply unsettling: Muslims, as a general trend, often seem to harbor an unusual hostility toward dogs. While the rest of the world hails dogs as “man’s best friend,” in many Islamic societies, they’re treated as filth, vermin, or worse — literal devils.
I’ve written about this before (see links below), but in case you’re new to the topic, consider just a few recent developments from the Islamic world:
Dog Deaths, Abuse, and Massacres: A Global Trend
- May 2025, UK: A Muslim man running a dog rescue shelter called Save a Paw was arrested after the carcasses of 37 dogs were discovered on his property. His was a cruel scam: accepting dogs from desperate owners who could no longer care for them, charging a fee to rehome them, then simply letting them die.
- January 2025, Morocco: In preparation for the 2030 FIFA World Cup, Morocco launched a horrific dog extermination campaign. Reports estimated some three million dogs would be culled from the streets. Slaughter squads were seen clubbing and shooting strays across urban areas.
- August 2024, Turkey: Journalist Uzay Bulut warned that a new government law legalizing the removal of stray dogs had effectively turned municipalities into killing machines. Dogs were poisoned, shot, even beheaded by private citizens and city workers alike. Some were even buried alive.
- November 2022, Hebron (Palestinian Territories): The city’s mayor publicly offered 20 shekels for every dog killed. Videos circulated of mobs chasing, beating, and killing dogs in the streets.
- July 2022, Iran: Authorities raided shelters and killed 1,700 dogs taken in by volunteers. One video showed a woman weeping over the lifeless body of a dog she had once saved.
- Qatar, 2022: Armed gunmen stormed shelters, killing 29 dogs — including puppies — in an incident that caused public outcry on social media.
- Afghanistan, 2021: When Kabul fell to the Taliban, some 200 dogs at the airport were reportedly abandoned and left to die.
This isn’t just a Middle Eastern quirk: it’s systemic, global — and religious.
In short, if “in Springfield, they’re eating the dogs,” across much of the Islamic world, they’re killing them like rats.
Western Symptoms of the Same Disease
Islamic hostility toward dogs has bled into the West. In the UK, USA, Canada, and Australia, there have been numerous reports of Muslim cab and Uber drivers refusing to transport blind passengers accompanied by seeing-eye dogs — despite such refusals being illegal under disability law. The problem is especially rampant in Britain, the “diversity and inclusion” capital of Europe.
Just a few headlines:
- Muslim taxi driver refuses to pick up blind passenger
- UK driver fined for refusing guide dog
- BBC: Blind man denied taxi
- Australian blind woman refused Uber ride
In Muslim-dominated neighborhoods in cities like London, signs have even appeared warning dog walkers to stay away — because “Muslims don’t like dogs.”
So Where Does This Hate Come From?
To understand the roots of this hatred, we must turn to the source of Islamic doctrine: Muhammad. And here, things get bizarre.
According to Islam’s most authoritative hadith collections (Sahih Muslim and Sahih Bukhari), Muhammad not only disapproved of dogs, he called for their extermination.
“Allah’s Messenger ordered us to kill dogs, and we carried out this order so thoroughly that we even killed the dog accompanying a woman from the desert.”
— Sahih Muslim 1572
Eventually, Muhammad softened his stance — limiting the slaughter only to black dogs:
“You should kill the jet-black dog with two spots on the eyes — for it is a devil.”
Keep in mind, these “orders” weren’t carried out with tranquilizers or firearms. This was seventh-century Arabia. These dogs were stoned, stabbed, strangled, or drowned by Muhammad’s zealous followers.
The Puppy That Interrupted the Prophet’s Rendezvous
Why the obsession with killing dogs? One clue lies in a very telling hadith from Sahih Muslim. One night, Muhammad was expecting a visit from the angel Gabriel. The prophet waited and waited —but Gabriel never came.
Frustrated, he noticed a puppy under his bed. Upon removing the dog, Gabriel finally appeared and explained that angels do not enter homes with dogs.
Compare this to the Bible: Angels never hesitate to appear among animals. In Mark 1:13, Jesus was “with the wild animals,” and “angels attended him.” In Luke 2, angels appeared to shepherds surrounded by flocks. In Numbers 22, a donkey sees an angel before a prophet does.
Why, then, does an all-powerful angel flee from a puppy?
Enter Dihyah al-Kalbi
This is where things take an even stranger turn.
Muhammad had a close companion, Dihyah al-Kalbi, known throughout Arabia for his striking beauty. Several hadiths record that Gabriel would appear in the form of Dihyah during his late “visits” to Muhammad. In one telling case, Muhammad’s wife saw Dihyah arriving late at night, assumed it was him — but Muhammad insisted it was Gabriel.
So let’s connect the dots, as many ex-Muslims in the Arab world have. According to them, Muhammad and Dihyah were engaged in a secret homosexual relationship. To disguise their late night rendezvouses, whenever Dihyah showed up and was seen by someone, Muhammad insisted it was actually “Gabriel” in disguise.
This explains a lot. Why would an angel need to “borrow” a man’s face? Why Dihyah, every time? And more importantly — why would a dog prevent this angel from entering Muhammad’s house?
Because, critics say, Dihyah didn’t want to be barked at and exposed during a nighttime tryst. The dog might alert neighbors. So “Gabriel” stayed away until the puppy was removed.
Once Muhammad pieced it together, the easiest solution? Ban dogs. Declare them devils. Order their killing.
And so it began.
The Legacy of the Dog Ban
Nearly 1,400 years later, Muslims are still taught that angels won’t enter a house with a dog — and that black dogs are literally possessed. In a fatwa on the widely respected Islamic site Islam Q&A, we find this:
“We must ensure that Muslims continue to be averse to dogs … even amidst what non-Muslims are used to doing … And Allah knows best.”
In other words: even if you’re living in the West, surrounded by dog-loving culture, stay vigilant. Resist assimilation. Do not start liking dogs.
Even worse, because this topic is taboo, causing few in the West to understand it, the West remains complicit in this cruelty. According to one report, the U.S. government spends millions in taxpayer money to train bomb-sniffing dogs — then gifts them to Arab regimes like Bahrain, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Morocco, which have a history of killing or abusing dogs.
A Final, Diabolical Interpretation
There’s one final — and darker — theory. Some believe Gabriel wasn’t an angel at all, but a fallen angel, a demon — or even Satan. This would explain his aversion to dogs. Many cultures (including Christian ones) believe dogs can sense and bark at evil spirits.
If Gabriel truly feared dogs, maybe it’s because they saw him for what he was.
And just to twist the knife: Dihyah’s tribal name, Kalbi, literally means “dog.”
So now you know. The Islamic world’s hatred for dogs isn’t just cultural, or coincidental. It’s foundational. It’s theological. And it’s tragic.
Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West and Sword and Scimitar, is the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.